


where your heart lies

by mypetersburg



Category: Anastasia (1997), Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mypetersburg/pseuds/mypetersburg
Summary: They go to London first.What happens after the events of the movie/musical.





	where your heart lies

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I loved the idea of Dmitry and Anya traveling after the events of the movie/musical. I've probably taken some liberties with this.

The night she kisses him on her grandfather’s bridge, they go back to his hotel room where she pens a letter to her Nana and he writes one to Vlad and Lily. The letters say things like _goodbye_ and _thank you for everything_ and _we love you_ and _we will see you again soon_. Anya dots her i’s with hearts, kisses the envelope, and takes his hand.

They drop the letters off at the palace and set off together for the train station.                                                           

-

They go to London and sleep in a hotel for a few days until they find a flat. It is small and Dmitry is embarrassed to unlock the door and walk her inside, but tears gather in her eyes and she kisses him. That night, in their bedroom, she thanks him for helping her get something that is _hers_.

            Dmitry hates the idea of living off of the money from the Dowager, so he sets out to find a job and she does the same. It takes a few hours, but he finally gets hired at a little restaurant as a waiter and is giving a clean uniform. Anya finds a bakery a few blocks away and charms the owner, and he sends her off with a job and two fresh loaves of bread.

She is starting to find that her smile can get her a lot, because the landlord appears one day with new blue curtains for their window in the bedroom and tells Anya that she’s just such a sweet and loyal tenant. She smiles widely at Dmitry that night and giggles when he moves forward to kiss her.

            They have been in London for two months. Two months of Anya teaching Dmitry to speak English, two months of working as a waiter and working in a bakery, two months of pure bliss. Dmitry finds himself loving Anya more and more over those two months, and he sits down one day while she is at work with a piece of paper and a pen. He wasn’t educated, but Vlad taught him to read and write. So, he pens a letter in shaky Russian, requesting Anya’s hand in marriage. He writes it quickly and searches their bedroom for an envelope and writes the Dowager’s address on it and drops the letter inside.

He walks to the post office with shaking hands.

            Two weeks later, the Dowager appears at their flat before Anya has arrived home. Dmitry swallows hard and opens the door, bowing his head.

“Your Majesty. Any- _Anastasia_ ’s not home. She’ll be back soon.” he says.

“Where is she?” the Dowager asks, welcoming herself inside and stepping past him.

“Working. She works at a bakery.” he says, then winces when he realizes that the lost Grand Duchess of Russia works in a _bakery_.

“Why aren’t you working?” she asks.

“It’s Sunday. The restaurant is closed on Sunday.” Dmitry says dumbly. The Dowager stares.

“You want to marry her.” she says, after a moment.

“Yes. I love her.” he says. The Dowager sits at the shabby table and glances around.

“What can you give her?” she asks.

“A home. Love. Family. That’s all she’s ever wanted, isn’t it?” he asks, and the Dowager glances to him.

“You put yourself before her, don’t you?” she asks.

“Her happiness is the only thing I care about.” he says honestly, and she nods, old blue eyes twinkling with something like nostalgia and nods toward the bag she came in.

“There’s the ring. It was her mother’s and mine and my mother’s before.” she says, and Dmitry nearly falls out of his chair.

“You’re serious?” he asks, scrambling to his feet and stumbling to the bag, reaching in and pulling out an old ivory box. He opens it to find a diamond engagement ring and nearly falls over, rushing toward her and nearly dropping to his knees.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” he whispers.

“There will be things to talk about. But you make my Anastasia happy, and I want her to be happy. Write me a letter once you do ask her.” she says, starting to stand.

“Please, Your Majesty. I’ll make you a cup of tea. She’ll be home soon with some fresh bread. Stay for dinner.” he says, taking his seat again.

“Fine, then.” she says. “I’ve missed my granddaughter.”

When Anya returns home, she drops the bag of bread and runs toward her Nana with tears in her eyes. Dmitry feels the weight of the box in his pocket and blinks hard before _his_ eyes can become teary, too. 

-

London becomes too cold, and too rainy. Four months in, they pack up one afternoon and each quit their jobs and head off on their next adventure.

He hasn’t proposed yet, but he tucks the ring into his coat and smiles at her on the train, thinking about when he should.

They go to Italy. Vienna, specifically. It is less rainy than London, and it is good to see Anya eat bigger portions. Get some meat on those royal bones, he tells her, and she slaps his shoulder.

He loves her, and she loves him, and they are happy. The food isn’t bad, either.

            They don’t have time to get a flat in Italy, because they only stay for two or so weeks until he proposes to her as they walk back to the hotel one night. She cries and admires the ring and tells Dmitry that she loves him more than anything.

They lie in bed that night and she prods him awake.

“Hm?” he asks, eyes closed, half-asleep.

“I don’t want to stay in Italy. Take me somewhere new.” she whispers.

“You’re insufferable. Let me at least sleep, first.” he says, and loves the way she laughs and cracks open an eye in time to watch her admire the ring. Blindly, he pulls her hand to his lips and kisses her ring finger, and she laughs and tells him that she loves him.

-

Their next stop is Barcelona. They stay for two weeks. Anya looks beautiful in the sun, and Dmitry hardly has it in him to leave. When she kisses him and tells him to take her to Rome, he doesn’t have to be told twice. They both know by now that he'll do anything she asks, with hardly a second thought. 

-

They go to Rome. She marvels at the architecture and he marvels at her. They stay here for nearly a month, but he starts to miss Vlad and Lily and she starts to miss her Nana. They’ve seen the sights and wandered to all the cafes, and she’s eaten every local food she can find. They bid the friends they’ve made goodbye and he buys two train tickets to Paris and they start the tedious process of packing their lives up into two suitcases. She blows a kiss to the city before they enter the train station, and he squeezes her hand.

“Where to?” he asks.

“Where we belong. Paris.” she says. He draws her nearer and kisses the top of her head, appreciating the way her ring catches the dying daylight. 

-

He finds that he likes Paris more than Russia. They get married a month after they arrive, and buy a nice townhouse and he gets a job. Anya demands that she wants a job, so she gets one, as a salesgirl at a boutique. They see Vlad and Lily and the Dowager at least once a week. They eat crepes and croissants and walk by the Seine, happy at how much in love they are and ignoring that they look like silly tourists. They get a cat, too, an orange skinny thing from the alley that Anya dotes over and Dmitry lets sleep in their bed. The cat purrs too loudly and Anya names it Zubrovka the day she finds it.

“I had a cat named Zubrovka. It was orange, too.” she tells him, scratching the cat behind its ears.

She goes to dinners with Lily and makes dozens of friends, and they go to her friend’s house for dinner and come home at night to a cat growing fatter by the day and a fireplace that he lights every night.

The both of them are happier than they have ever been, and Dmitry sits awake some nights and marvels at everything that he has. He has Anya, and a family, and love. Things he never thought he’d have. He wonders what he has done to deserve it.

On those nights, before he can get to into his head, she rolls over and throws an arm across him and he closes his eyes and rolls over, pressing his face into her hair.

-

They continue to travel, on and off, for the next year. Then Anya gets pregnant and they go right back where they belong: Paris. Vlad and Lily. Nana. Zubrovka, the fat cat they left with Nana while they traveled. The townhouse with the fireplace.

In Paris, their hearts sing.

**Author's Note:**

> The Romanovs really did have a cat named Zubrovka, and it was an orange cat! I got this fact from:https://www.rbth.com/history/327599-pets-romanovs-history
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Please read and comment! <3


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